Natalie Portman and Lupita Nyong’o to Star in a Limited Series for Apple TV+

Apple TV+ is gearing up a big new limited series with some major talent attached. 

Natalie Portman and Lupita Nyong’o are set to star in Lady in the Lake, an adaptation of a book by Laura Lippman. 

As Deadline reports, the series will tell the story of housewife Maddie Schwartz, played by Portman, who becomes an investigative journalist in the wake of an unsolved murder in 1960s Baltimore. Nyong’o will play Cleo Sherwood, a woman working many jobs while also being committed to the Black progressive agenda in the city. 

Apple has ordered the series straight to series. Honey Boy director Alma Har’el co-created the series with Colony and The Man in the High Castle writer Dre Ryan. Har’el will direct the series, making it her follow-up to her highly acclaimed debut from 2019. 

This is a big move for Apple TV+, bringing two A-list talents, who are very selective in the projects they choose, to television. 

Both women are Oscar winners, with Portman having won for her performance in 2010’s Black Swan and Nyong’o for 2013’s 12 Years a Slave. This will mark Portman’s debut in a television series, and Nyong’o’s first major role in a series.